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JO“School refusal” — the phrase alone puts the weight on the child. Like they’re choosing difficulty. Like a bit more pressure might fix it. 💙
But for many autistic children, what’s happening is emotionally based school avoidance — EBSA. Something about the school environment feels overwhelming, unsafe, or threatening to their nervous system. So we see panic, shutdowns, tears, physical symptoms. And then later in the day, they seem okay again. Not because it wasn’t real. Because the threat has passed and their nervous system has settled.
The part that often goes wrong is what happens next. When EBSA gets treated as defiance or naughtiness, the response tends to be more pressure. But more pressure doesn’t resolve a threat response — it intensifies it. You genuinely cannot discipline a child out of survival mode.
What actually helps looks different. It starts with reducing the threat enough that safety becomes possible again. Because a child who feels safe can learn. A child in survival mode cannot. That’s not a discipline problem. It’s a nervous system one — and it deserves to be understood that way. 🧡
#SchoolAvoidance #EBSA #AutisticChildren #Neurodiversity #NeurodivergentSupport
@joshfromreright
